New Ker 9.8

Following strong demand for the 11.3, Jason Ker downsizes.

After the success of his 11.3 design, Jason Ker has once again teamed up with Phil Crebbin and Johnny Faulkner of Race 1, to bring us the Ker 9.8.

"The acceptance of the 11.3 has seen quite a number of owners progressing from the good cruiser racers to a grand prix racing boat." said Crebbin reflecting on what appears to be a current trend in the market.

The 11.3 was designed to compete within both the IRM and IRC racing rules, and its successes over the summer season has proven that it is more than capable of that. While the 11.3 was marketed to hold it's own with the Farr 40s, the 9.8 looks to provide a grand prix racing alternative to the Sigmas, Js, Xs or Prima 38s. "It's going to appeal to a lot of people who are wanting to move up to grand prix racers within that range." says Crebbin.

Having raced the 11.3s around the country, they found that outside of the Solent it was the scratch boat - a 11.3 won both Torbay and Dartmouth Regattas, they found that they were racing out in front of the fleet rather than within it or just in front. Following interest from the initial publicity, Crebbin feels that the 9.8 will rectify this and appeal more to local fleets around the country while still being a top class race boat.

The boat at 9.8 metres in length (32.5ft) has a beam of 3.0m and draft of 2.1m. The hull and deck are to be made in pre-impregnated epoxy laminates, with a single massive composite internal 'T' frame incorporating the keel attachment and mast step. The bare minimum furniture of the 11.3 is mirrored in the 9.8, all of course designed to meet ORC, IRC and IRM requirements, incorporating a 'sleeping area' aft for between two and four crew.

Problems with the rigs in some of Ker's earlier designs: Shaker Maker & Roaring Meg prompted Ker to greatly simplify his rig configuration for the 11.3 and this successful change will be kept for the 9.8. " Shakermaker, Roaring Meg and the new 11.3s showed how fast IRM boats can go. The new 9.8 One-Design is a distillation of the best features of these boats, retaining the simplified rig configuration used in the 11.3" he said. The carbon fibre mast is 15/16ths double swept back spreader rig with discontinuous Nitronic 50 (high strength stainless steel) rods. The covered Kevlar backstay has a masthead sprung batten to help avoid leech hooking, and is led through the transom to an underdeck carbon wheel system.

The standard price for the 9.8 excluding the sails and VAT is £90,000. Race 1 are currently in negotiations with various sail makers and estimate that the total cost with sails will be between £100,000 and £105,000.

The contract to build the boat has been offered to Ovington Boats, and is currently in the final stages of negotiation. The first build will take place in Tynemouth, and is scheduled for launch in March 2002, hopefully to coincide with the Spring Series.